For men who have had prostate surgery, and suffered the effects of erection issues after, there may be some very good news. Sure, there are pharmaceutical treatments as well as medical devices that can help, but the simplest method for getting at least some relief is right at your fingertips: It’s Exercise.
As much as 90 percent of men who have undergone prostate surgery report a loss or reduction in sexual function afterward, according to Prue Cormie, Senior Research Fellow of the Health and Wellness Institute at Edith Cowan University in Australia.
Those men can turn to the usual medications, devices, or implants. But Cormie explains the important thing those remedies don’t address is overall health. Exercise helps with that, too.
Where modern medicine certainly has its place, there’s no reason not to get some exercise. It can’t hurt, and it might help more than you expect.
How Prostate Cancer Surgery Can Cause Erection Issues
There are two variations of surgery for prostate cancer. One is a nerve sparing surgery, and the other is not. With either surgery, erectile function is nearly always impaired, and often stopped altogether.
For men who have nerve sparing surgery, normal erections may return within about a year. They may not be as strong as they once were, but the ability may restore on its own.
Men who do not have nerve sparing surgery aren’t often as lucky. Some erectile function may return at some point, but the chances of that happening are very slim, according to WebMD.
Another consideration is the radiation treatment that many men have in addition to surgery. After radiation, most men gradually lose erectile function. This doesn’t happen right away, though. It can begin as late as 6 months after radiation treatment.
Other factors in erection issues and the potential for recovery afterward include how advanced the cancer is, and the skill of the surgeon performing the prostatectomy.
Why Prostatic Nerves are So Important to Erection Health
The prostate gland is located very close to the penis. There are bundles of nerves, called cavernous nerves and prostatic nerves, which connect to the prostate, and then branch out to the penis.
If the nerves are cut, damaged, or removed at the prostate, the nerve endings are severed before they can reach the penis. That’s why there are two types of surgery, one that attempts to preserve as much nerve tissue as possible, and the more radical procedure where removing all of the cancer requires removal of the nerves.
In the nerve sparing surgery, the prostatic nerves are removed, but the cavernous nerves remain more or less intact. These nerves continue on to the penis, so erection function may be restored, at least partly.
Exercise can’t mend damaged nerve endings, but it can help make you healthier.
The Connection Between Exercise and Regaining Erection Function
In the Australian study, a group of men with prostate cancer was divided into two groups. One group proceeded with their normal, everyday routine without any changes. The other group participated in a supervised exercise program. They met twice weekly for weight training, bicycling, walking, and aerobic exercise.
The shocker is after three months, the men who exercised regularly experienced a 50 percent increase in sexual activity over the men who didn’t participate in the program. Part of the initial reasoning behind this result is that the men who exercised had a higher libido. When interviewed, the men said they felt better, more masculine, and had a higher sense of self-esteem and virility.
The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia also acknowledges the positive effects of exercise for men who have undergone prostate surgery and experience erection issues afterward. In a report titled, “Understanding the Impact of Prostate Cancer Treatment on Erectile Function,” they say the benefits of exercise include boosting testosterone, which can help improve erection health.
But is Exercise a Miracle Cure for Erection Issues?
Exercise is important for overall health, and has been shown to help improve erection function in some men. That said, it’s very unlikely to restore erection function in men who had a radical prostatectomy procedure. For men who have nerve-sparing surgery, the possibility of some improvement is greater.
The most important thing to do is talk with your doctor. He already understands the risks of erection impairment after prostate surgery and radiation treatment, and knows nearly all men experience a total but temporary loss of erections after treatment.
There are other remedies that can help, and they have clinically proven reliability for many men. Medications called PDE5 inhibitors can help facilitate more blood flow to the penis, which is necessary for a healthy erection.
How PDE5 Inhibitors May Help
PDE5 inhibitors are the medications you’ve come to by the brand names such as Cialis, Viagra, Levitra, and the newer Staxyn and Stendra. These drugs help work around the fact that nerves are damaged.
In a healthy erection, the nerves in question trigger the release of nitric oxide to the penis. When this happens, the blood vessels dilate and more blood flows in. With those nerves damaged or removed, there is little or no nitric oxide released. Blood vessels either don’t dilate at all, or not as much as needed. And of course the extra blood can’t fill the penis to create an erection.
PDE5 inhibitors help cause more blood to flow in. In many men, an erection is much more likely to happen with the medication than without.
After prostate cancer surgery, exercise is part of a healthy recovery plan. And for some men, it may produce noticeable improvements in libido, body image, erections, and sexual satisfaction. But if you are among the men who need more help regaining healthy erections, maybe it’s time to talk with your doctor and find out about the other options you could try.
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